Typography: Form and Function Part 1

The Sign in Typography

The term sign, derived from the Latin signum, refers to an object or graphic form that represents or replaces another reality, either by convention or by nature. In typography, a sign is a visible element that conveys meaning through writing.

The linguistic sign is a perceptible entity that refers to something absent. It is made up of three inseparable components: the signifier (the form), the signified (the concept), and the referent (the object or idea in reality). Meaning emerges from the relationship between these elements.

Phonetic signs are designed to represent speech sounds in a precise and consistent way. In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), signs are organized into three main groups:

• Letters, which represent basic sounds
• Diacritics, which modify or specify sound features
• Suprasegmental symbols, which indicate prosodic features such as stress, duration, and intonation

Punctuation marks are also part of the writing system. Their function is to structure text, indicate pauses, and organize meaning within the linear flow of writing.

Diacritics are graphic elements that alter the value of a sign. Common examples include accent marks, the diaeresis, and the tilde in the Spanish letter ñ.

Legibility and Readability

Legibility refers to how easily individual letters can be recognized. It depends on the formal characteristics of letterforms and on the reader’s cultural familiarity with them.

Readability refers to how easily a text can be read as a continuous whole. It is influenced by typographic composition: spacing, line length, alignment, and the appropriate use of typefaces.

A typeface may be highly legible but poorly readable if it is used incorrectly. The opposite situation is uncommon.

Legibility is influenced by several factors:

• Cultural factors, related to reading habits
• Perceptual factors, related to letterform design
• Emotional factors, linked to associations generated by typographic forms

Among these, cultural familiarity is often the most decisive.

Reading fluency depends on the harmonious arrangement of letters, words, and lines. In typography, this quality is sometimes referred to as readability or visual comfort. Clear criteria exist to evaluate whether a text composition supports or hinders reading.

Eye Movements in Reading: Saccades and Fixations

Reading involves specific eye movement patterns. The most important are saccades and fixations.

Saccades are rapid eye movements that reposition the gaze from one point to another, placing information on the fovea, the area of highest visual acuity. During a saccade, visual perception is briefly suppressed, which is why eye movements themselves are not perceived.

Fixations are short pauses during which visual information is processed. They typically last between 200 and 350 milliseconds and include both motor stabilization and cognitive processing. Meaning is extracted during fixations, not during saccades.

Reading efficiency depends on the balance between these two processes. Well-designed typography supports predictable eye movements and reduces unnecessary fixation time.

Character Spacing

Character spacing is a key factor in typographic legibility. It refers to the spatial relationship between letters along the baseline.

Professional typefaces include carefully designed spacing, but understanding its principles is essential for evaluating and adjusting text. Glyphs differ in shape, yet recurring structural patterns allow for consistent spacing across the alphabet.

The goal of spacing is to achieve uniform optical white space between characters. This is not based on equal measurements, but on perceived visual balance.

To achieve this, type designers define sidebearings, the lateral margins of each glyph. When two characters are placed next to each other, their sidebearings combine to create the appropriate visual space. Proper spacing prevents gaps, collisions, and irregular texture, all of which negatively affect reading.

Lowercase letters require special attention, as they dominate continuous text and largely determine overall readability.